A classic and influential work that laid the theoretical foundations for information theory and a timely text for contemporary informations theorists and practitioners. With the influential book Cybernetics, first published in 1948, Norbert Wiener laid the theoretical foundations for the multidisciplinary field of cybernetics, the study of controlling the flow of information in systems with feedback loops, be they biological, mechanical, cognitive, or social. At the core of Wiener's theory is the message (information), sent and responded to (feedback); the functionality of a machine, organism, or society depends on the quality of messages. Information corrupted by noise prevents homeostasis, or equilibrium. And yet Cybernetics is as philosophical as it is technical, with the first chapter devoted to Newtonian and Bergsonian time and the philosophical mixed with the technical throughout. This book brings the 1961 second edition back into print, with new forewords by Doug Hill and Sanjoy Mitter. Contemporary readers of Cybernetics will marvel at Wiener's prescience-his warnings against "noise," his disdain for "hucksters" and "gadget worshipers," and his view of the mass media as the single greatest anti-homeostatic force in society. This edition of Cybernetics gives a new generation access to a classic text.一部为信息理论奠定理论基础的经典和有影响力的作品，也是当代信息理论家和实践者的及时文本。诺伯特-维纳于1948年首次出版了颇具影响力的《控制论》一书，为控制论这一多学科领域奠定了理论基础，控制论研究的是具有反馈回路的系统中的信息流，无论是生物、机械、认知还是社会。维纳理论的核心是消息（信息），发送和回应（反馈）；机器、有机体或社会的功能取决于消息的质量。被噪音破坏的信息会阻碍平衡，或平衡。然而，控制论既是技术性的，也是哲学性的，第一章专门讨论牛顿和柏格森的时间，哲学性与技术性混杂在一起，贯穿始终。本书将1961年的第二版重新印刷，并附有道格-希尔和桑乔伊-米特的新序言。Cybernetics的当代读者将惊叹于维纳的先见之明--他对 "噪音 "的警告，他对 "小贩 "和 "小工具崇拜者 "的蔑视，以及他对大众传媒是社会中唯一最大的反平衡力量的看法。这个版本的《控制论》让新的一代人有机会接触到一个经典文本。